As Megan drove home, she wondered how she could drop out of this pathetic little book group. However, she realized that a prom queen probably wouldn’t do something like that. For now, she might as well go with the flow, maybe even fake that she’d read the upcoming book. Perhaps she could find something online to help her. Even so, it seemed like a lot of work for just nine measly votes . . . unless these girls became so loyal to her that they actually influenced their friends to vote for her too. That is, if they had friends.

  Megan did a mental countdown of the time remaining until the prom queen election as she drove home. Four weeks. Most importantly, she had to get the fundraiser event solidly launched—this meant getting advertising and publicity started by the end of the week. And second most importantly, she had just one week to secure the nomination for prom queen. She knew she could count on her friends to nominate her, but it would take a few other nominations as well. Then the official campaigning would begin three weeks before the election.

  She was just parking in front of the house when her cell phone rang. To her surprise it was Belinda. “Mom just told me the news,” Belinda said in an unimpressed tone.

  “The news?” Megan decided to play dumb.

  “That you are actually going to make a run for the crown. Is it true?”

  Megan removed her key from the ignition and stared up at the plastic gold heart that was still swaying back and forth, the tiny words “I Believe” barely readable.

  “Well, is it?”

  “Yeah.” Megan grabbed her bag and got out of the car, holding her phone away from her ear as the loud shrieks of her older sister’s laughter blasted through the phone. Megan was tempted to hang up as she went into the house.

  “Are you still there?” Belinda demanded.

  “What do you want?” Megan asked as she dumped her bag on her bed.

  “I just wanted to know if it’s really true.” She chuckled.

  “Yeah . . . I guess.” Megan knew Pastor Robbie wouldn’t approve of that response.

  Belinda laughed loudly again. “I needed a little pick-me-up today, Meggie. Thanks for providing it!”

  “Glad I could be of help!”

  “Don’t get mad at me, Megan. You’re the one who needs to get her head examined.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “Come on, Megan. You know this is totally crazy. Why on earth are you doing this?”

  “It’s not crazy.” Megan sank down onto her desk chair, trying to remember words from Shower of Power.

  “Listen, I’m your big sister, and I don’t want to see you get hurt, okay?”

  “I’m not going to get hurt.”

  “You will get hurt. Trust me—I know what I’m talking about. Running for prom queen is not for the faint of heart.”

  “My heart isn’t faint.”

  “It’s a brutal race, Megan. I know you. And you are simply not cut out for that kind of thing.”

  Megan let down her guard and actually told Belinda about what she’d done so far. She explained how her friends were all helping, how she was planning a fundraiser, and how she had even started a book group.

  “I already ordered chocolate bars with ‘Vote for Megan Bernard’ printed on the wrappers.”

  “Oh, Megan!” Belinda sounded truly concerned now.

  “What?”

  “They just say ‘Vote for Megan Bernard’? That’s all? You didn’t even come up with a slogan first?”

  “There was a limit on letters.”

  “Even so, you could’ve done better than ‘Vote for Megan Bernard.’ Good grief! Why didn’t you check with me first?”

  “I had to place the order if I wanted them to arrive in time for the election.”

  “But you should’ve used a slogan. Remember ‘Believe in Belinda’? It was catchy and inspiring.”

  “Yeah, right.” Megan kept her opinion to herself.

  “Well, it helped win me the crown.”

  “Maybe so. But I haven’t been able to come up with a slogan,” Megan admitted.

  “Let’s see . . . how about ‘Make It with Megan’?” She laughed. “No, that sounds a little disrespectable.”

  “Great, just what I need.”

  “Okay, what rhymes with Megan? How about ‘Beggin’ for Megan’?”

  “No thanks.”

  “Well, I’ll give it some thought. Now, you said you ordered candy bars, but did you already choose your campaign colors?”

  “Campaign colors?” Megan sighed.

  “You know, to coordinate everything. Remember, my colors were pink and black last year. I had them on my buttons and posters and everything. It was a very classic campaign.”

  Megan opened her laptop and pulled up one of the posters that Chelsea had made for her. “How about purple and teal?”

  “Purple and teal? You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “A friend is helping with posters,” she explained.

  “But purple and teal?”

  “That’s just one of the layout choices.”

  “Why don’t you email them to me? I’ll look them over and come up with some suggestions.”

  Megan felt somewhat flattered by this unexpected interest and attention, but at the same time she felt slightly insulted too. Did Belinda really think Megan was incapable of running her own campaign?

  “That is, unless you think you don’t need my help . . .”

  “No, no, I probably do need your help,” Megan admitted. “I’ll send the posters to you right now. I appreciate any recommendations you might have.”

  “See, already you’re sounding more like a prom queen.”

  “I’m trying.”

  “And who knows, you just might be able to pull this off. I remember when I was a freshman and Patty Pringle was elected prom queen.”

  “Patty Pringle?”

  “She was this loser chick, but she ran a really slick campaign and somehow she won.” She giggled. “Of course, a bunch of kids boycotted prom that year. But it just goes to show you that anyone can win—if you just put your mind to it.”

  “Right.” Megan wasn’t sure whether to feel hopeful or hurt.

  “I’m coming home this weekend,” Belinda said. “Maybe I can spend some time coaching you.”

  “Okay.” Megan brightened. “That would probably be helpful.”

  “In the meantime, don’t make any more decisions. Not before we settle on a slogan and colors. Do you understand?”

  Megan promised to put all decision-making on hold until Saturday. Feeling surprisingly encouraged, she hung up the phone and proceeded to email the posters to her sister. Really, with Belinda helping, she should be a shoo-in!

  7

  By Saturday morning, Megan was ready to make some decisions—and she spent all day just waiting for Belinda to come home and help her. But so far, no big sister. As the day wore on, she left several texts and voice mail messages asking Belinda why she wasn’t home yet. Consequently, when Belinda finally did come into the house, just as Megan was getting ready to go to youth group, it was not a pretty scene.

  “Where have you been?” Megan demanded.

  “I told you I was coming,” Belinda tossed a bag of clothes into the laundry room.

  “I waited all day for you!”

  “Sorry, my ride couldn’t leave until this afternoon.” Belinda headed for the fridge. “But I’m here now.”

  “Yes, and I’m going to youth group.”

  Belinda turned and glared at her. “I came all this way to help you and you’re leaving?”

  “I spent all day just waiting for—”

  “Girls!” Mom came into the kitchen waving her hands. “Can you keep it down? I’m working on a report and—” She noticed Belinda now, pausing to hug her. “Welcome home.”

  “Thanks. Now Megan tells me she’s leaving.” Belinda made a pouting face. “After I make all the effort to come and—”

  “You could’ve told me when you’d get—”

  “I have to rely on others for my rides these days.” Belinda popped open a can of soda. “Unless you’d like to let me have my car back.”

  “We’ve been over that,” Mom told her. “Now, really, can you keep it down so I can get some work done?”

  “Fine, but now I think I wasted my time in coming.”

  “Can’t we work on it tomorrow?” Megan asked.

  “Celeste wants to head back to campus in the morning.” Belinda set the can down with a loud clunk.

  “Fine. I won’t go to youth group tonight.” Megan started to take off her jacket.

  “Don’t let me stop you.”

  Megan took a deep breath, reminding herself of how a prom queen should act. Too bad her sister wasn’t setting a better example for her. “I’m sorry, Belinda,” she said stiffly. “I’m glad you could come. And I do appreciate it. If tonight is all we have, we might as well get started.”

  “Speaking of getting started.” Belinda nodded to the laundry room. “How about if you start a load for me while I go use the bathroom? It’ll save time.”

  Controlling herself from complaining, Megan just nodded. Soon she was sorting Belinda’s whites from colors, putting in a load, and realizing that running for prom queen came with all kinds of hidden costs.

  “Come on into my room,” Belinda called down the hallway. “And bring your laptop.”

  Soon they were both plunked in Belinda’s pretty room, which was decorated in shabby chic pastels. Megan had always admired this space and had even asked about trading up after Belinda went off to college. Naturally, Belinda wouldn’t hear of it. She insisted she needed a soft place to land during weekends at home.

  “I think I’ve figured it out.” Belinda was pulling up a formal dress website on Megan’s computer. “We start with your dress and work backwards. I actually picked out my campaign colors first—pale pink and black—but that was okay since I wanted to go with a pink dress anyway. Fortunately, I look good in pale pink.”

  Megan sat down on Belinda’s bed and just nodded as if she totally understood this.

  “But with your coloring, I think you need a deeper color. No pastels for you.” Belinda pointed to a hot pink dress. “What do you think of that?”

  Megan shrugged. “It seems kind of bright.”

  “Yeah, maybe so.”

  “And I’ve never really been that into pink, you know?”

  She nodded. “And the theme is Oscars Night, right?”

  “The theme?”

  “For prom.” Belinda’s brow creased. “Didn’t you know that?”

  “No.” Megan frowned.

  “Aren’t you on the prom committee?”

  Megan just shook her head.

  Belinda looked truly stunned. “Then are you on a subcommittee?”

  Again she shook her head.

  “And you are running for prom queen?”

  “Well, not officially. Nominations aren’t until next week.”

  “You need to be on the committee, Megan.” Belinda grabbed a pad of paper and began writing. “This is your new to-do list. First of all, get yourself on that prom committee. ASAP. You got that?”

  “Okay.”

  “It’s probably too late to get on the theme or set-up committee. One of the easiest committees is cleanup. It’s easy because it doesn’t require anything of you before prom—and that’s when you’re busiest. In the meantime, you can easily line up some friends to handle cleanup.” She giggled. “You find some guy who’s not exactly A-list, if you know what I mean. Make sure he likes you, and then very sweetly ask him to do you a big favor.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “If he really likes you, he’ll say yes. Then you explain what you need and ask him if he has some buddies who can help out.” She grinned. “Easy breezy.”

  “Maybe for you.” Megan bit her lip.

  “Are you or are you not running for prom queen?”

  “I am.”

  “Then start thinking like a prom queen.”

  Megan sat up straighter. “I’ve been trying to, Belinda. But you can be a little intimidating.”

  She simply smiled. “Get used to it, sweetheart. The girls running against you will be intimidating too. If you want to succeed, you can’t let them get to you.” She turned back to the laptop screen. “Now let’s focus on colors. Since the theme is the Oscars, you want a sleek Hollywood sort of look. And I assume you want a full-length dress. And even though there will probably be a red carpet, I don’t think we should rule out red for your dress.” She turned and peered at Megan. “You used to look pretty good in red.”

  “Used to?”

  Belinda came over to look more closely, carefully examining Megan’s hair. “You really should do something to perk up your color.”

  “Perk up my color?”

  Belinda laughed. “I could swear there’s an echo in this room.”

  “Excuse me for not understanding everything you say,” Megan said defensively. “Maybe you could communicate a little more clearly.”

  “Okay, you need to see someone about intensifying your hair color. Right now it’s kind of a drab brown. But you could get it highlighted or maybe even a red tone.”

  “But how? I don’t know anything about hair coloring.”

  Belinda went back to her notepad. “I’ll write down the name of my hairdresser for you. She’s a pro at color.”

  “But I’m not a blonde.”

  Belinda rolled her eyes. “No one is asking you to be a blonde. I’m just saying do something with that dull brown hair. It should be shiny and vibrant. Anyway, back to dress colors. There are a lot of shades of red. But I think this one would be perfect for you.” She pointed to a purplish shade of red. “Raspberry.”

  “Raspberry?”

  “There’s that echo again,” Belinda teased. “And the only thing you can put with raspberries is chocolate.”

  Megan resisted the urge to echo that. Instead she just nodded. “That sounds tasty, but will it look okay?”

  “If you do it right.” Now Belinda pulled up one of the posters, pointing to where Chelsea had made borders of various colors. “Run the raspberry here, the chocolate there, and if you need a third color, I’d suggest a soft pink. But you’d probably be smart to keep it all to just the raspberry and chocolate.” Now she asked Megan to show her where she’d ordered the chocolate bars. “So we can see if it’s too late to change the wrapper.”

  Megan got back into the site, and then Belinda took over. “We’ll see if your wrappers can be chocolate brown on the outside, like a Hershey’s bar, and the lettering will be raspberry red and all caps. The words will say, ‘Make It Megan!’—with an exclamation mark.”

  “Make It Megan!” She nodded eagerly. “I like that.”

  “So do I. Simple, but strong.” Belinda finished up the message she was writing to the company, politely pleading for a change, then hit Send. Next she began focusing directly on Megan. “First you need to practice your posture,” Belinda said. “Sitting, walking, standing. You realize you’re a slumper, don’t you?”

  Megan shrugged.

  “A slumper and a shrugger. Neither are particularly queenly traits.” Now Belinda had Megan walk, stand, and sit with a book on her head. “You probably think this is silly, but if you could see how much prettier you look right now, you’d never slump again. Trust me.”

  As Megan practiced with the book on her head, she listened to Belinda espousing the benefits of good posture. She wanted to trust her sister. And really, why would Belinda lie to her about this sort of thing? Even so, she was glad her friends couldn’t see her right now. She was also relieved that Arianna was at a sleepover tonight.

  “Now let’s work on your makeup and beauty routines.” Belinda chuckled as she led Megan to the bathroom. “This is something I’ve wanted to do to you for years.”

  Megan knew that Belinda had always spent much longer getting ready for school than Megan. But because the three girls shared the bathroom, the time that Belinda used had always cut into Megan and Arianna’s turns. As a result, Megan had learned to be very quick in getting ready. In fact, until recently, she’d taken pride in being such a low-maintenance sort of girl. Of course, those days were gone now.

  As Belinda explained some of the basics of skin care and makeup, retrieving some of her own left-behind beauty products from a drawer in the vanity, Megan told her about the makeover and photo shoot they’d done last weekend.

  “I thought you looked extra good on those posters,” Belinda said as she showed Megan how to apply eyeliner. “The thing is, you need to look like that every day.”

  “Every day?”

  “Every day that you’re running for prom queen.” Now Belinda showed her the proper use of concealer. “There really is an art form to hiding zits,” she explained as she first applied a tiny dot of concealer, then patted some powder on over it, then lightly brushed it off with a big fluffy brush from Belinda’s own cosmetic bag. “I’ll help you to find the tools and products you need online,” she promised. “There’s a really good site where I get all my stuff.” Next she showed Megan how to use lip liner, lipstick, and finally lip gloss to make her lips appear fuller.

  “Wow.” Megan peered at her own image. “You really do know what you’re doing.”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for years. You just wouldn’t listen.”

  “I’m listening now.”

  Belinda went over some more things, including going through Megan’s closet and tossing out what looked like nearly half of Megan’s clothes. “And don’t you dare give those things to Arianna either,” Belinda warned.

  Megan laughed. “Don’t worry. Arianna wouldn’t want them.”